3 hours ago
Last Updated:November 27, 2024, 23:57 IST
Germany denied that it closed a state-run Russian news outlet’s bureau.
Russia said it was expelling two correspondents from German public broadcaster ARD in retaliation for Berlin ordering two journalists from Russia's Channel One to leave Germany. (IMAGE: AFP)
Russia said Wednesday that it would expel two journalists from Germany’s ARD national network in a like-for-like move after a Russian state broadcaster said its journalists had been ordered to leave Berlin.
Germany denied closing the Russian channel’s bureau — but appeared to accept that the Russian journalists had their residency in the country revoked — and slammed Russia’s retaliation as “unacceptable".
Russian state-controlled media has faced broadcast bans and other restrictions since Moscow launched its Ukraine offensive, accused by Western regulators of spreading disinformation. Moscow has responded with what it calls tit-for-tat measures.
ARD said two employees were told to hand over accreditations by December 16 and said the decision “marks a new low point in relations with Russia" where “pressure on Western journalists… has continued to increase" since Russia began its Ukraine offensive in February 2022.
The German foreign ministry called the expulsion of ARD journalists “unacceptable" in a post on X.
Russia said it was acting in response.
“We have to adopt retaliatory measures towards journalists of the Moscow office of ARD," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.
She called the decision to revoke residency rights for the Russian reporters “the latest unfriendly actions by Berlin towards Russian media".
Russian arbitrariness’
Moscow identified the two ARD journalists who have to leave Moscow as correspondent Frank Aischmann and cameraman Sven Feller.
Russian state broadcaster Channel One reported earlier that its correspondent and cameraman working in Berlin had been ordered to leave, with a newsreader saying authorities were “closing the German bureau".
Germany said the accusation it had ordered the bureau closed was “false".
The “federal government has not closed the office of this broadcaster," German foreign ministry spokesman Christian Wagner said, adding that Russian journalists “can report freely" in Germany.
However, Berlin appeared to acknowledge that applications to extend the Russian reporters’ residency permits had been rejected.
“In the case of the two employees of Perviy Canal (Channel One), the responsible state authority made decisions regarding residence rights. These can be appealed against. This is the difference between a legal process and Russian arbitrariness," the foreign ministry said on X.
‘Interests of security’
Channel One correspondent Ivan Blagoi said on air Wednesday that he and cameraman Dmitry Volkov were notified Tuesday that they “must leave German territory in the first half of December".
He said they were told “the decision is motivated by the interests of security of the Federal Republic of Germany".
Channel One, which broadcasts in Russian, airs a daily evening news show called Time that is widely watched, especially by older viewers.
The channel showed part of a letter apparently from German immigration authorities saying that Blagoi’s request to extend a residence permit had been refused and he must leave voluntarily or be deported.
No wording explaining the reasons for the decision was visible.
Channel One claimed that German authorities had said it was a “threat to the public order and security of Germany and the EU".
Germany accused the channel of spreading “propaganda and disinformation" among Russian-speaking migrants, justifying Russia’s military incursion in Ukraine and calling defenders of Ukrainian democracy “Nazis", the Russian report said.
Germany has a large number of residents who have emigrated from Russia and other ex-Soviet countries, many of them ethnic Germans.
Russia has previously responded to what it views as hostile moves against its media by denying foreign journalists accreditation and barring them from entry.
Shortly before Russian troops entered Ukraine in February 2022, it shut down the Deutsche Welle broadcaster’s Moscow bureau and revoked journalists’ accreditations, in response to a ban on RT’s Germany service.
Around 20 German media outlets are accredited by Russia’s foreign ministry, according to its website.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed - AFP)Location :Moscow, Russia
First Published:November 27, 2024, 23:57 IST
News world Germany, Russia Expel Journalists In Tit-For-Tat Move
